Death's Daughter
by 13bookworm
Summary: Zaria is a demi-god destine to save the camp from mass destruction, maybe even the world. She is on a quest to find her kidnapped latin teacher, and save her father and the rest of the gods. One problem, she has to deal with her worst nightmare along the way too. And in the end a choice must be made.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: All previous campers are non-existent. That includes Percy and Annabeth. Camp is also set up differently as well, there are only thirteen cabins, these cabins are the original twelve cabins and a Hades cabin. The only repeating characters are Chiron, the Gods, and the Titans. Everything that happened in The Last Olympian has not been taken into account. So what ever happened in the final book never happened. Basically everything what happened in the books never happened in my story. The only thing that's from the books is Camp Half-Blood. I figure the gods are pretty much common sense, the titans as well. Mythological history is not exactly accurate, so if I've got something wrong historically, ignore it. Enjoy! **

I fidgited in my seat, so excited for the last few minutes of school to be over. Stareing between the clock and my New York City brochure, I couldn't stop thinking about my trip. The trip with my mom was my reward for doing so well in latin. Latin seemed to come so easily to me, its like I'm half greek or something.  
Anyway there was at least five minutes left in class. Which ment five more minutes with Mary Vangroober. Her parents owned Vangroober Realty, meaning she was rich. She had the most expensive clothes, and if anything was cool she had to have it. Mary Vangroober was also a teacher's pet in almost every class, except latin. Latin was my time to out shine her, I was teacher's pet then and everyone knew it.  
Mary sat in her seat to my right, throwing blackened earasers at me. It was childish, completly imature. Ms. Hampson sat at her desk reading her book, usually a book about horses. Paying no attention to Mary Vangroober, as she continued to throw erasers at me. The erasers didn't fase me though.  
To my left was my best friend, Natalia. We had been best friends since kindergarten. She was good at gardening, in 1st grade we planted seeds, hers grew the fastest. It made Mary Vangroober so mad, she made her father buy the tallest tree in the world. She brought it to school to show off, of course our teacher was impressed. Anyway Natalia was going with me and my mom on our trip. We had been talking about it all week. Planning everywhere we went and everything we did.  
I looked back down at my brochure, I had never been to the big city before but I knew it would be fun. Mary Vangroober reached over and grabbed my brochure, she laughed. "Wow, you've never been New York City before" Mary Vangroober stated insultingly. "Well..." I muttered. "I go there every summer. We stay in a penthouse, and go to the hottest parties in town" Mary Vangroober continued. "Can I have my brochure back?" I asked very irratated with her. She stuck her tounge out at me, and proceeded to rip up my brochure.  
I filled with anger, she had been so mean to me. What had I ever done to her? I positively couldn't take it anymore. I stood and glared at her menacingly. My head began to feel hot, really hot. As if my head was on fire. Mary Vangroober began screaming hastarically. Natalia touched my shoulder, I sat back down and began to cool off. Ms. Hampson walked over, "Zaria, would you like to go get your stuff from your locker?" she asked. I calmly walked to my locker.  
I got my stuff as the school bell rang out. Piling and piling into the hallways, kids were running everywhere. I shoved my way back to class to find Natalia. She was talking to Ms. Hampson, who was picking eraser chunks out of Natalia's hair. I had a feeling it was Mary Vangroober's fault.


	2. Chapter 2

"What do we do now, we know who thier parents are?" Natalia questioned. "Keep your voice low, I'll take care of Mary, just get Zaria to camp," Ms. Hampson stated. I wondered what they could possibly be talking about, looking into the room. The two still talking. I realized something I had noticed once before maybe, Ms. Hampson clopped her feet. Like a horse clopps their hooves.  
Suddenly Mary Vangroober bumped into me, "Get away from me you freak" she stated. He friends laughed and snickered, "Good one Mary". Mary Vangroober stared at me with her dark green eyes. She was obviously disgusted with me, but there was a hint of fear in her eye. Mary Vangroober and her friends turned away, sticking thier noses in the air.  
As they walked away, Natalia exited the classroom and joined me. I didn't here the ending of their conversation, so I acted like I never heard them at all. We officially missed the bus, so we ended up walking to my house. I didn't complain, its just the fact that its on the other side of town. That meant that by the time we got home, we would be late for dinner  
I had a left over apple from lunch that we split. We kicked stones across the sidewalk, neither of us were talking. I had a feeling Natalia didn't want to talk though. I decided to unburry my phone from the bottom of my bag, to tell my mom we were going to be late. My last latin test blew out of my bag. I was irratated with how my day was going. I stepped onto the grass so I could reach my paper. I then shoved it back into my bag. The grass where I had stepped was dead now, I figured it was dead before I stepped there and continued on.  
I dialed the number to call my mom, then "zap", my phone surging with electricity. I dropped my phone, it landed screen first on the ground. As I picked it up I noticed the screen was all shattered, but in the shape of a lightning bolt. I also had a new email, "Consider this a warning" I read out loud. Natalia began to be all spaztic and grabbed my phone, she then chucked into the gutter. My phone was never to be seen again.  
Natalia never behaved like this before, but I guess she thought my phone would electricute me or something. When we finally reached home it was pooring down rain. We slipped inside, and went to my room to peel off our wet clothes and get changed. My mom had made cheeseburgers for us.  
After dinner we went to bed, by then it was thundering outside. The lightning was kind of eerie, considering how close it was to the house. It made me glad that my mom had put up that lightning rod.


	3. Chapter 3

I awoke to an unpleasent smell, which meant mom was making breakfast. The smell of burning eggs was coming from the kitchen, the smoke detector beeping really loudly. Natalia sat awake next to me, I had a feeling we weren't going to fall back asleep. We went into the livingroom to watch cartoons. You know the old cartoons on at five o'clock in the morning, no one you know has ever heard of. Our favorite show was Gargoyles, and in practically every episode, the characters would fall in love with each other or break up. The other show we like is Silverwing, it was based off a book. He is my favorite author, I read the whole trilogy. The tv show is nothing like the book.

Mom gave up on the eggs, so we had cereal instead. I sat across from Natalia as we ate. "So what were you and Ms. Hampson talking about yesterday after class?" I asked randomly. Natalia froze mid chew, and swallowed hard. "Oh, we were wishing each other a good summer," she replied nervously. "So the words get Zaria to camp, doesn't ring a bell from the conversation?" I questioned. "Hey! Are you two done packing?" my mom suddenly asked. I sighed and we went to my room to continue packing.

I decided to drop the subject, for now. We grabbed our bags and hauled them out to the car. Natalia and I hopped into the backseat. Mom started the car and turned on my favorite radio station. We sang the lyrics of our favorite songs obnocsiously, screaming them out the window. We made half the neighboorhood dogs start howling. One dog, I could have swore had three heads. I quickly rubbed my eyes and it was normal again. The train wasn't to far so we weren't in the car long.

When we arrived at the trainstation, it was practically empty. We checked in and got on the train. A woman, who I assumed was Mary Vangroober's mom considering she was sitting with her, sat across the isle from us. Yet she looked like some one else I knew, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Mary Vangroober had her face glued to a magazine. Probably staring at cute celebrities.

The train started and we were off to New York. I dozed of for a little while. I would open my eyes for a few minutes in between, to see Natalia talking to the familiar looking woman across the isle. Unable to here the conversation, I would fall back asleep. When I awoke we had arrived in New York moments before.


	4. Chapter 4

The woman Natalia was talking to was gone, along with Mary Vangroober. Mom was grabbing our bags from the overhead compartment. The train station was much more crowded, there were more people here than in my home town. We stood at the edge of the sidewalk, mom was making sure we had everything. Mom said it was too expensive to take a cab to the hotel, so we walked all the way there. Oddly, I felt really tired, even though I just took a 3 hour nap.

I learned quickly that New York wasn't just bright lights and Broadway plays. There were several men on the street wearing trench coats trying to sell people random things. Women wearing flashy outfits were around every corner, but I ignored all that stuff. I stood staring up at the tall skyscrapers, I was truly fascinated by them. Something seemed to be bothering Natalia, she kept looking behind us. To my sight there was no one following us. The hotel must have been farther than I thought because there wasn't one nearby.

We passed dark alleys, they actually kind of creeped me out. Suddenly a large man jumped out of one of the alleys ahead. He was literally as big as a bear. Mom made us drop our bags and run. The man roared with rage, it actually sounded like a bear. I stopped a moment and looked at this man. His hands and feet were bear claws. Natalia grabbed my arm, and pulled me along until we caught up with my mom.

When we finally got to hour hotel we were pooped. We took turns taking showers, mom ordered some chinese food, so thats what we had for dinner. I plopped on a bed and clicked the tv on, and began to chow down on my Lo Mien. When I finished that I was even more tired than I was earlier, so I drifted off to sleep for a while.

My dream was very odd. There was a man in dark clothes groaning in pain. I tried to run up and help him but I wouldn't move. Multiple men with low voices were laughing menacingly in the background. "Finally our revenge," one of the boomed, "You'll be the first to suffer, Hades,". "Zaria," the man groaning in pain called out. After that I snapped awake.

Natalia and Mom hadn't known I was awake and were talking in the kitchen area. I stayed put and listened in on their conversation. "It's not safe here we need to get her to C-A-M-P," Natalia stated. So mom was in on the camp thing too. "She's been waiting to come here her whole life, we can't just go now. Let's give it a few days and if something happens we'll head straight for Half-blood Hill," Mom replied. "That was an Agrius last night! Do you know how bad this is?" Natalia exclaimed. An Agrius, we learned about those in latin class. They'er man eating Thracian giants that are half man, half bear. That would explain the bear claws. I tried to listen in on the conversation again but apparently it had ended.

I got up out of bed and joined them, I didn't ask them about camp or the Agrius. Mom poured me a bowl of cereal, and sat down across from me. "So what are we going to do today?" she asked. I looked over at Natalia, she looked over to mom but then back to me. "Well since our suitcases were taken, we have no clothes so lets go shopping," I answered. Natalia actually seemed pleased to this answer.

000

This time my mom was smart enough to pay for a taxi to get us downtown. Our first stop was the mall, I truly hoped we wouldn't run into Mary Vangroober while we were there. Picking out clothes for Natalia and I was generally easy, but for my mom, it wasn't so easy. She was short but thin, her arms and legs were practically toothpicks. Natalia and I picked out clothes and had her try them out. She tried about a dozen on before we found the perfect outfit for her. It was a green sweater and a pair of kakis with some matching, green heels. The look really accented her leaf green eyes.

By the time lunch came around we were all carrying bags of clothing and accessories. For lunch we had frankfurters piled high with mustard, ketchup, and other toppings. When we finished I offered to take care of our trash and put away the tray. On my way back to the table I saw a women who I could have swore had a snake in her hair, reading a magazine. Natalia and Mom came over to me and ushered me out of the food court. They had been acting weird lately and I was beginning to think they were paranoid of something.

We continued shopping and ended our day with pedicures and manicures. The nail artist was painting my toes blue as I sat in the chair with a hot towel on my face. Mom and Natalia were to my right getting their hands done. Natalia kept gasping I assumed it was from the fumes in the air, but then the name Aphrodite came up. "Is that her over there, you know Aphrodite?" Natalia asked my mom in a hushed tone. My mom must have nodded because, Natalia giggled with delight. I was too relaxed to take of the towel and look, so I didn't worry to much about the reoccurring pattern of greek mythology character names coming up in their conversations.

Mom got us another taxi ride back to the hotel. We put all our clothes in the closet and went out for pizza. It was just down the block, so we walked. I ordered my own mini pizza piled high with olives and bacon. Natalia and mom just stuck to salads. When we left I said that we could have gone to a different place if the just wanted salad.

Again by the end of the day I was tired, but I didn't fall asleep right away. Natalia and mom were talking in the kitchen quietly talking. "Ok it was fun today, you were right about staying here for a couple of days," Natalia stated. "See you never would have seen Aphrodite if we had went straight to Half-blood," Mom replied. I was tired of the mentioning Half-blood and not telling me about it so I went to sleep and tried to tune out their conversation.

My dream was the same thing as last night's. A man in dark clothes calling out my name and evil laughter all around him, but this time I was standing next to him. Before I woke up the man said the one thing I didn't want to here, "Zaria, get to Half-blood Hill,".

000

The next morning was kind of like yesterday's, except this time we sat sipping hot cocoa. "So what do you girls want to do today?" mom asked. "How about you pick Natalia, I got to pick yesterday," I said to Natalia. "Well, I have always wanted to see a broadway play," Natalia answered. "Ok then, that's what we'll do today," mom replied. I truly didn't care what we did today, the dream from last night kept haunting me. Mom and Natalia wanted to me to go to this camp, and now my dreams wanted me to, too. Some how I now felt compelled to go to this camp, like I had some sort of special connection to the place or something.

We spent the morning watching movies, until around three when we hopped into a cab and went to the New Amsterdam Theatre. I spent the ride thinking about the man in my dream, he looked familiar, I had seen him once before. A faint memory of him smiling, well not really it was a half smile. We were surrounded by darkness, but there was a faint light, and then he was gone. "Zaria, Zaria?" Natalia asked, nudging my shoulder. Mom was paying the cab driver, as I got out of the cab.

000

I wouldn't say the play was all that interesting. I mean I had no clue what they were singing, probably in a different language. So I had no clue what was going on, all I know this guy was cheating on his girlfriend, proposed to the other women, and both of the women died in the end. Anyway while my mom was getting us a cab, she gave us some money to get some franks. The guy at the hotdog cart smelled like a hobo, rolled in icing, luckily the hotdogs didn't.

We were crossing the street when this man in front of us fell. I touched his shoulder and asked, "Are you ok?". He pulled out a gun, I screamed. Then the man put the gun to his head and shot himself. I screamed again, and ran across the street, passed my mom, into a dark alley. My mom never came for me, neither did Natalia.


	5. Chapter 5

When I awoke I was back in the hotel room. Mom and Natalia were in the kitchen talking again. I immediately got up and went into the kitchen. "Take me to Camp Half-Blood!" I stated angrily. They both looked at me in surprise, "Wait you know what Camp Half-Blood is?" Natalia asked, bewildered. "No but you guys want me to, our latin teacher wanted me to, and some guy in dark clothes in my head wants me to, too!" I exclaimed. "Wait a man in dark clothes, did he have a beard and kinda looked like Mick Jagger?" mom asked urgently. I nodded in reply. "We need to go now!" Natalia exclaimed to my mom, "He said when it was time he would tell us and I'm pretty sure that's our signal!". "Fine, get our things I'll get a cab," mom ordered.

I sat there doing nothing as Natalia ran back and forth, grabbing our things.I was in no mood to help right now, I was furious with everyone. Why would they keep this a secret from me, its just a camp isn't it. At the time I had no clue how very wrong I was. As we got into the cab, I noticed a big black dog staring at me from across the street in an old run-down diner parking lot. This one seemed to also have three heads, like the one I had seen in my next door neighbors yard, but I simply ignored him as we drove off into the city.

We were in the cab for a long while, everyone sat in dead silence. It smelled of leather, and old socks. Obviously the cab driver practically lived in this cab. I sat staring out the window and watched the city as it rushed by. To make conversation or something the cab driver asked, "Are you sure you what to go to this, Half-Blood Hill, because I drive by there a lot and there's nothing there?", no one answered. "Ok, then," the cab driver sighed. There was obviously something about this camp, if there was nothing there.

000

When we got to the camp, all you could see was a a giant white house, some pavilions, and 12 cabins. Had the cab driver been lying, or could he truly not see the camp. Suddenly the ground started to rumble, and from the top of the hill you could see trees falling down. My heart rate quickened, as a large, and by large I mean 20 foot tall man, emerged from the woods. "Giant!" Natalia screamed as she ran down the hill, my mom running with her. I stood in awe, unable to move. This was an actual giant, and it was running right at me. Oh my god, it was running right at me! Closer, closer, and closer, it was practically 5 feet away. I was sure it was going to eat me, when suddenly, two horses leaped over me. Not horses necessarily, more like half man half horse, one man, one woman. Now what was the name for those, I know I learned about them in Latin? Well anyway one of them looked very familiar, and again I couldn't put my finger on it.

They were shooting arrows at the giant. "Chiron, we can't keep this up much longer," the woman stated. "We need to wait for Dionysus," the one whose name I guessed was Chiron, ordered. Again more god stuff, Dionysus was a god, he had slain a giant before, yeah, yeah, yeah. Then suddenly, a man ran past me carrying a spear. He thrusted it at the giant, "Spear!" he called out. A spear solidified in his palm, and he thrusted it at the giant. This happened multiple times. I assumed he was Dionysus. "Grab the girl," Chiron ordered as he continued to shoot arrows. Centaur, that's what they were called! Anyway, the familiar looking female centaur ran towards me. When suddenly the giant grabbed her, "Chiron!" she screamed. "Marina!" Chiron cried. Dionysus chucked spears at the giant"s arm, but it had little to no effect. Marina, who I assumed was the captured centaur, all of a sudden burst into a gold dust. "Marina! No!" Chiron cried.

A giant black dog with three heads leaped onto the giant. Cerberus, I definitely knew who and what he was. Had he been following me? First he was at my next door neighbors house, then near the motel, and now right here attacking a giant. Of course now he was much bigger. He began clawing and biting at the giant. The giant too, burst into gold dust. Cerberus then trotted over to me, the ground shaking as he did, and sat, his heads lowered. My hand slowly moved towards his middle head, his fur was black as death, but soft to the touch. I faintly remembered him in the memory of the half smiling man. Cerberus had been behind him, looking down upon us. As my hand stroked him he slowly became a normal size.

Chiron was on the ground cursing in greek. Dionysus approached me, he helped me up off the ground. "Give him a minute," Dionysus said. "Um... You're hurt," I stated when I noticed his bleeding wound. "That's nothing," he replied. Something suddenly touched my shoulder, it was Chiron. He had minor cuts on his face, his eyes were bloodshot, and had long curly hair, "Shall we?". I nodded and we began walking down the hill. Cerberus sat at the top of the hill whining. "You have to let him in, say I Zaria give Cerberus permission to enter Camp Half-Blood," Chiron stated. "I Zaria give Cerberus permission to enter Camp Half-Blood," I chanted and Cerberus leaped towards us. "Wait how do you know my name?" I asked Chiron. "Everyone knows your name," he replied.


	6. Chapter 6

As we walked down the hill the kids I assumed were campers bowed. Some of the campers had hooves, they were satyrs. "Why are they bowing?" I asked Chiron. "There will be a time to answer your questions later, let me get you a guide," Chiron replied. "Daphne!" he called. A tall girl, about 16 years of age, came running over. She had dark hair, hazel eyes, and was really tan. She bowed to us as well. "This is Daphne, a member of the Apollo cabin," Chiron introduced. By now I was used to the God stuff, so it didn't surprise me when the name Apollo came up. "I'm going to try and get a nap in before all the drama you brats are going to create at dinner," Dionysus stated as he walked off towards the white building. "Don't worry it's not you, he's usually like this. Daphne show her around, she will be staying in cabin thirteen, I'll meet up with you later, make sure you take care of Cerberus too," Chiron ordered as he trotted of.

"Well as you know I'm Daphne, everyone knows who you are. Come on I'll show you around," Daphne invited. She seemed nice enough, so I just followed her as she showed me around. The cabins each had a god, for example the Apollo cabin, it was decorated with his symbols and other sun related things. She also showed me my cabin, it was dark and had skeletons around it. I actually kinda liked it, the skeletons didn't creep me out or anything. There was a volleyball court, campers would look over at us, they bowed like everyone else. At a pavilion there was sword fighting, that I actually gave interest in. The campers there didn't bow to us, they were probably too wrapped up in their duels. I kinda liked that they hadn't noticed us because then there would be even more bowing. The whole time Cerberus was following close behind us. Across the way was a lake, the minute we got near it Cerberus began to growl. "Cerberus it's ok, he won't do anything to you," Daphne crooned. "Um..." I began. "Oh um the big three they kind of have a sort of rivalry," Daphne explained. "Why didn't you just say Zeu..." I began again. "Names are very powerful," Daphne interrupted.

000

At dinner I sat at an empty table beside Cerberus. There were two other empty tables in a row with mine. At the other side of the pavilion was the Apollo table, I knew this because Daphne was sitting there. Beside that table was another table, the Dionysus table. Many boys sat there, and they all looked like Dionysus. Another table was filled with satyrs and Chiron stood at the end. They looked very depressed at that table, Chiron still had bloodshot eyes. Suddenly green tinted people walked in carrying platters of food. Natalia was among them, along with my mother, well I didn't really know what to call anymore. The platters were placed on the tables, and campers started piling food onto their plates. To my surprise they all began to line up and dump their food into the fire in the middle of the room. Some of the campers stood at the fire and said a few words, the satyrs spent the longest time at the fire. A green tinted women stood beside my table. I was about to get up, when she told me that it wouldn't be necessary for me to put my food in the fire.

Dinner was pretty silent at my table, Cerberus tore apart a large steak as I picked at my plate. When I looked over at Chiron's table there was still piles of food on their table, unlike the other tables that were practically empty. Natalia and ex-mom were across the way standing beside their own tables. I assumed they had noticed me but weren't allowed to come over and talk. After a while Chiron clopped one of his hooves, "Your attention please,". Dionysus stood up, "Ok you little rug-rats. We have some announcements but first... And I'm only doing this because I have to. Let's welcome our newest guest Zaria, daughter of Hades!" he introduced. "That explains the skeletons," I thought to myself. Everyone began to clap, it was kind of awkward. "Although we have gained a new camper, we have also lost someone... Chiron," Dionysus began. Chiron cleared his throat and spoke, "Many of you thought of Marina as a mentor and a teacher, and today she fought to save Zaria, in doing so she was captured. It is unknown where she is or if she can be saved,". Somehow I knew he was holding back tears, when I looked at him he didn't appear to though. "Capture the flag will be proceeding as planned tomorrow. All normal activities as well," Dionysus concluded.

When announcements were over everyone continued to eat. I overheard the Ares table and I learned just what kind of people they were. "Chiron is such a wuss," one of them sneered. The rest of the members at the table laughed. I began to fill with anger and feel hot inside. Everything grew quiet, I felt everyone's eyes on me, but that didn't stop me from what I was about to do. I got up and stomped over to the Ares table. "You know what, I may not know Chiron that well or even at all, but no one deserves to be insulted like you just did. I have had to deal with that kind of thing my entire life!" I yelled at them. They stared up at me not saying a word. "Zaria! Wait, this is the Zaria you were talking about?" a familiar voice asked. "Well, da!" Dionysus exclaimed. I turned and saw her... Mary Vangroober. "The perfect example! Little miss teacher's pet, she has everything she could ask for, and she has insulted me since the day I met her!" I continued, "It probably shouldn't surprise me that she is here, and at the Aphrodite table, because where ever I go she's there. She was practically born to make me miserable!". There was a long silence, then, "I want you on my team for capture the flag!" Daphne stated. Everyone began to clap, my ex-mom and Natalia stood ignoring what just happened.

After dinner everyone walked to their cabins and went to bed. I had the feeling that the Ares cabin was now my enemy. Not in a way that I was afraid of them, no, in a way they were afraid of me. Cerberus and I left the pavilion last. It wasn't to hard to fall asleep knowing I had a three-headed dog beside me. I had a feeling tomorrow was going to be a busy day.


	7. Chapter 7

I dreamt the same thing I had been dreaming for a while, except this time there was a dark figure beside the man. The man was lying down on the ground unconscious beside the dark figure, the figure seemed to be unconscious as well. This time there was no voice.  
When I awoke it was early in the morning, not even light out yet. Something was beside the door. There was a black T-shirt with the number thirteen on the back and the words; Camp Half-Blood, on the front. Under that was a pair of grey shorts that matched the wording color on the shirt. I figured no one would mind if I took a shower, so I did. Once I got back to my cabin, I braided my hair. Afterwords, it was still early so I went to the sword fighting pavilion.  
The pavilion had one wall, but had many marble columns. There were swords of many sizes along the wall, but something led me past it. I walked into a wooded area. Something was pulling me in this direction. Within a few moments I came upon a clearing. Something was floating in the middle of the clearing, a sword, with a gold and silver finish. I stuck my hand out towards and the sword floated to it. When I gripped the sword it felt perfectly balanced, like it was somehow made for me. "You know, I made that sword," a voice interrupted. There was a boy sitting on a rock, one or two years older than me. He had golden blond hair, and a muscular body "Oh sorry, here's your sword back," I apologized. "Oh no, when I made that sword I enchanted it to find the one person that its perfect for," he replied. "I'm Mason, from the Hephaestus cabin," he stated as he leaped off the rock. "I'm..." I began. "Yeah I know, Zaria, cabin thirteen. So how good are you with a sword anyway?" Mason asked. "I took fencing for seven years," I replied. "Very well then, I challenge Zaria of cabin thirteen, to a sword match!" Mason chanted. "How about after breakfast, I'm starving," I stated. He laughed and we went to go have breakfast.

000

Breakfast was a lot different from dinner last night. Obviously this time there was breakfast food, but the fact that I was actually hungry was new. There was no fire in the center of the room, so I assumed the food dumping was only at dinner. Cerberus still sat scarfing down what ever meat he was given, though. Turns out my table was next to Mason's, there was about ten kids there, but there was only one girl at the table. She had golden blonde hair as well, and seemed to be my age. Chiron's table even seemed happier, well not bright and cheery, but they weren't tearing up and Chiron no longer had such bloodshot eyes. Based on key observation, Marina was more important to him than she was to anyone else. The Ares table was pretty silent, I mean sure they talked, but they didn't say anything insulting. I figured they had learned their lesson. Announcements were the same as last night, I didn't really pay attention to them though because I could not wait for my sword match. I also didn't explode at any of the tables. Something was telling me that today was going to be better than yesterday.  
By the time breakfast was officially over, as in everyone was leaving the pavilion, there was no food left on my table. "Every cabin must do their chores before continuing with activities!" Chiron called to everyone. "Is there anything I should do?" I asked him as I passed by. "Everything is being taken care of. I heard you have a sword match later, if I were you I would practice for the time being," Chiron stated, whispering the last part to me. I nodded and walked off towards the sword fighting pavilion.  
I stood in the middle of the pavilion, instead of practicing I wanted to try something. During breakfast I had gotten an idea, it consisted of leaving my sword at one end of the pavilion and me standing at the other end. My hand rose into the air, and the most amazing thing happened. The sword flew over to my hand, and I gripped it tight. This was astounding, I could actually use this skill. I was ready for my duel.  
000  
"Rules of the duel; no killing, maiming, or seriously injuring. Only disarming!" the girl from the Heaphestus cabin called. The rest of the members of the Heapestus cabin cheered from the bleachers along with Cerberus. Mason and I stood back to back, shields in our hands, swords across the pavillion. He was obviously stronger and faster, but I would have agility and my new power on my side. The countdown went by slowly, when finally, "Macto!". That was Latin for "fight".  
I felt Mason leave my side, and I stuck out my hand. Again, the sword raced over. I turned quickly to land blade to blade with Mason. He was faster than I thought. I broke away and lunged at him. Most would think it was a rookie move, getting as close as I did to him, but it is quite useful when trying to disarm an opponent. Mason swung his sword at mine, I quickly rolled to the side, dodging his attack. In the process I tripped him, he stumbled a bit but he didn't fall or anything. The shield was making it hard to do this because I was taught to fight without one. I threw it across the pavilion, gasps let out from the bleachers. "Getting rid of your shield, big mistake," Mason stated. From this statement I figured he wasn't all that good without a shield.  
I lunged at him, this time sliding under him, between his legs, snipping the snaps of his shield. Then I leaped to my feet as his shield made a clatter onto the ground, but quickly ducked to dodge Mason's counter. He was definetly a worthy opponent, he was a true challenge. Our eyes met and then our swords. Moments later I heard the clatter of swords on the ground. I stared at Mason and he stared back at me. Both of our swords were on the ground. The cheering stopped, all was quiet.  
000  
Lunch was no different than breakfast. Everyone piled food onto thier plates, and talked as they ate. I couldn't help but to look over at Mason and his table. Most of the boys teased him, chanting, "You got beat by a girl!". The girl at the table just rolled her eyes at them. I wanted to find out what her name was but I couldn't just go over and ask it. She must have gotten tired of the boys because after a few minutes of the boys' annoying tuanting she rose from the table. "It was a draw, you imbissoles!" she stated angrily. "Oh what ever, Meredith," one of the boys replied. "If I could sit at another table I would!" Meredith stated as she sat back down.  
At one point Mason noticed I was looking at him, it was embarassing. He smiled though, I tried to smile back, but its kind of hard when you totally embarassed yourself. Luckily no one else was watching.  
Cerberus seemed louder than ever when he was eating his meat. It was almost as if he was trying to drown out everyone else. A voice suddenly popped into my head, it was a familiar voice, owned by the man in my dreams. "Get Chiron," he called. I reguarded it, thinking it was my own imagination.  
000  
After lunch I joined Daphne and the Apollo cabin at the rock wall. There we met up the Heaphestus, Athena, and Artemis cabins. It was time to talk strategy for capture the flag. "My cabin will guard the north and south side, Artemis will guard the flag itself, Heaphestus and Apollo, you're attack," a girl from the Athena cabin stated, "Questions?". "Just one, what am I going to do?" I asked. "You're going to capture the other team's flag," Daphne answered. "I'm what!" I exclaimed. "You're going to ride Cerberus, you're practically untouchable on him," Daphne explained. "But I've never ridden him before!" I exclaimed. "Well that's gonna change, we've got until tomorrow night. Now lets move!" the girl from the Athena cabin stated. Everyone then went off to train.  
I had to find a place to train Cerberus as well, but where. The Heaphestus cabin was at the masonry, the Apollo cabin was at the sword fighting pavilion, and I had no clue where the Artemis and Athena cabin were. I needed a lot of space to be able to ride Cerberus, I mean if he let's me ride him. He looked back at me with a "Yay I'm outside" look. Suddenly once again Chiron was at my side. "There's a clearing, a little ways into the woods," he stated. I nodded, then he trotted away. Why would he know there was a clearing out there? Cerberus and I then walked on into the forest.  
000  
Chiron was right, there was a clearing. It was actually a field but it's the same thing. Cerberus rolled on the ground, as I observed the area. I had the odd feeling I was being watched though. Maybe I wasn't alone, because Cerberus began barking hysterically. But, no one was there, I assumed he did it to get my attention.  
I wasn't surprised when Cerberus lowered to let me on. In some odd way I felt we were connected. Learning to be able to stay on him when he took his long strides took time but I managed. When it was close to dinner time, I had that skill down. I was ready for capture the flag!


	8. Chapter 8

When I awoke it was all a blur, the dream I had. I couldn't remember any of it, and I began to question if I dreamed at all. Then I began to think was something wrong with me, I disregarded the thought though. Today was the day, the day I play capture the flag.  
There was a sudden knock at my door. When I opened the door, to my surprise, stood Meredith. I also noticed that it was actually light out. Had I actually slept in for the first time in my life. "Chiron asked me to come get you, he didn't want you to miss breakfast," Meredith stated.

"Was I really asleep that long?".

"Yes, now come on and get dressed. I'm hungry too,".

"Wait just a moment,". I turned to go get dressed, and as I did so Cerberus burst out the door. Tackling Meredith to the ground, and licking her face.

"Get off me you slobber puss!". Cerberus backed down and began to whine. "Oh, fine!". He then sat down beside her and let her pet him.

000

Breakfast was pretty much the same as usual except this time there was a note taped to my table. _Come down to the masonry. I have a surprise for you. From Mason._ I wondered what it could be all of breakfast, and as I did I only picked at the food on my plate.  
I noticed Chiron was really happy, the satyrs as well. As far as I could tell Mrs. Hampson, or I should say Marina, wasn't back. Daphne sat at the end of the table to my right. I slid down to the end of my table. "Daphne," I whispered.

She turned towards me, "Yeah,".

"Ok, I know this is probably normal for you, but why is Chiron so happy? I mean, he's been kinda sad lately and all of a sudden he's really happy,".

"Everyone gets excited before capture the flag, even Dionysus,". I turned to see Dionysus laughing and smiling over at his table. That was kind of unusual too.

000

Breakfast ended, and we all filed out of the pavilion. Cerberus and I mosied on over to the masonry. Mason stood hammering a hot metal, which I assumed would be a sword. I waved the note in front of him and he stopped hammering.  
He walked on over to this closet type thing and opened it. Inside was large, shiny new, metal armor. "This is for Cerberus, I know he's immortal and everything, but it can't hurt. Can it?".

"You must have been up all night making this!".

"I had some help from Meredith too,". Mason then took out the armor and began putting it on Cerberus. It was really big on him, but when he stepped outside he grew so it would fit perfectly. "That should be good,".

"So I take it this isn't normal capture the flag?".

"They are totally different the only thing the same about them is the flag part. At Camp Half-Blood, we can you magical items and weapons to fight each other off and defend the flag. The Ares cabin has a poison dipped spear that's passed down to the oldest each year,".

"Poison?".

"It can't kill you or anything, it just puts you to sleep. Besides, you're not aloud to kill or seriously injure anyone anyway,".

"Ok, then what do you mean when you say magical items?".

"Well our god or godess parent, will sometimes send gifts. Like on a birthday or some other special occasion. Meredith got a amulet for her birthday a few weeks ago, it was the symbol for Heaphestus, and it creates a shield around her when it feels threatened,".

"It?".

"The amulet, it thinks like a human sort of, and it comes in handy because she is the fastest runner, which is why we're always attack, it creates a force feild and she fights off the other team easily,". I nodded. "Oh, and Daphne and Gweneth would like to see you down at the sword fighting pavilion,". I had no clue who Gweneth was but I knew I had to go.

000

When I got to the sword fighting pavilion, Daphne was there with the girl the Athena cabin. I assumed she was Gweneth. The two were slicing away at dummies with their swords.  
Suddenly Daphne stopped, "I win!".

"How did you get through those so fast?" Gweneth gasped.

"I'm from the Apollo cabin, now you remember what our deal was,".

"Yes, we'll clean the bathrooms and you can take our chore of picking up trash,". Gweneth turned towards me, "It's about time you got here!".

"Sorry Mason was explaining the whole capture the flag thing, with magic items and weapons,".

"Fine, but we need to talk strategy,".

"Like what, I mean all I have to do is get the flag, right?".

"Yes, but you won't have a straight path to the flag,". I sighed and plopped down on a bench next to Cerberus.

After Daphne and Gwen, that's what I decided to call her, explained what I would have to do, it was already lunch. The day was going by so fast, too fast for me. I was starting to think I wasn't ready for this after all.


End file.
